God Gives Sabbath Rest
Pentecost + 10 –
August 18, 2019
“Sabbath
for Self”
“There will be time for fun when the work is done!”
·
Words that have literally come out of my
mouth and that I have thought to myself more than once
·
Sense that there is so much to be done
(housework typically) and it’s not going to do itself and if we go and play or
dance or whatever, then the work will never get done
o Except
that – the work is never done; there
is always more (dishes, laundry, cleaning, bills to pay, lawn work, etc)– and
so when do you get to have fun? When do you get to enjoy rest? And reconnection? And renewal? And all of the things that fun is good for?
Trap of thinking that work is more important than rest
·
A kind of slavery/captivity
·
So much of American culture sells us the idea
that our value or worth is tied up in what we do, what we can produce
·
Badge of honor to be always busy – even if
the things we are busy doing are good, worthwhile, important things (esp. so)
·
We live in a workaholic society
o 47%
of working Americans did not take all of their vacations in 2017
o And
technology allows us to take work with us wherever we go; on vacation or not –
checking work email on our phones on the weekend or at the beach or hotel.
o Hobbies
turned into side-hustles; economic necessity &/or keeping up with the
Joneses…
·
Also live with the mentality – “If it is to
be, it is up to me” (taking that quote out of context, but the principle holds
here)
o If
I don't do it, it won’t get done
o The
weight and frustration of that
o But
also the self-importance: the world will cease working as it should if I don’t
keep on the hamster wheel of work, whatever form that takes
·
And here comes the command (COMMAND!) from
God: Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall
labor and do all your work. 14 But the seventh day is a sabbath to
the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your
livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female
slave may rest as well as you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in
the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a
mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you
to keep the sabbath day.
·
This is one of
the big 10, folks. Not a suggestion. Not an option. A command.
o To
take a day every week, to set it aside for worship and for rest and for
reconnection to God and one another; for renewal and re-creation
o For
realizing that we are not God; that the world will keep spinning without our
efforts.
·
We find this concept absurd. And challenging.
Hard to “do nothing”…(or is that just me?) "Idle hands do the devil’s work…"
Ancient Israelites needed this command too
· This
passage is part of a refresher on the 10 Commandments – Moses reminding them of
the covenant God had made with their ancestors when they were led out of Egypt
· Where
they had been slaves – without the power to set their own schedule or to choose
when they would work and when they would rest
· And
as they were about to settle in the promised land, the temptation would have
been great
o To
work, work, work to establish themselves
o To
create wealth and prosperity and security
o And
to make everyone around them work like that too (women vs. men today – we get
mad at spouses who sit around and watch football while we do everything else –
but we ought to take a page from their books!)
o To
never cease from doing – and so, fall back into a new kind of slavery
And that’s why God gives us the command for sabbath – as a gift!
· B/c
God knows we might work ourselves to exhaustion – and stress – and into broken
relationships – with our loved ones and with strangers
· God’s
command for sabbath recognizes this tendency to never feel like we’ve done
quite enough – or that others perhaps haven’t done quite enough
· And
God levels the playing field
o Everyone
gets to rest on the sabbath; adults and children, servants, working animals –
everyone
· And
this isn’t about slavish observation of the law and trying to figure out
exactly what counts as work or not
· It’s
about recognizing that God’s got this. God has this whole running-the-world
thing under control – and ultimately, we don’t.
o And
so we are set free from the tyranny of thinking that we have to keep on doing
and doing and doing in order to earn our worth or prove our value – or that
others need to do the same
o It’s
about learning to rest and see God at work in the world, even when we take a
break
o It
sets us on the trajectory for a new experience of trusting God instead of
ourselves – and what freedom, what gift is there when we are able to do that!
· And
imagine what might happen if we took a sabbath break together – if we allowed
ourselves the time to be renewed – through worship and prayer, sure, but also
through play and time spent with those we love (remember when families used to
go visit with each other on Sunday afternoons? And have a big meal?)
· God
commands us to rest first, and then our work, our energy, our productivity, our
creativity, our relationships, can flow out of that time of respite and renewal
So that’s the challenge for this week. To truly
set aside some time (dare I suggest even a day?!) when you lay aside the work
and spend some time with God and with others and by yourself, a time to let God
be at work in your heart and mind while you trust that you are enough in your
being, not just in your doing?
What gifts and new life might we find in the
command to observe the sabbath?
Let’s find out!
Amen.
Amen.
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